deathboy | Solangelo stories

Tartarus

Heads up, this is going to be lowkey disturbing.

Will's pov

I watch as Nico stares at the entrance, chest heaving up and down. Nico often has panic attacks, due to his PTSD, but none have ever been this bad. He is unresponsive. I understand why, I mean we are quite literally standing at the gates of hell, where some of his worst memories are, but I still can't help but be worried for him.

"Nico?" I ask for probably the tenth time. No response, just heavy breathing, even tears. I need to help him calm down.

"Nico..." I pull out a kitkat and stick it under his nose. It snaps him right out of the panic attack. He stares at me, eyes wide as he looks around his surroundings.

"Will? I thought you died?" Hold up, died? That is new news to me.

"Nico, no. We walked to the entrance of Tartarus together, so that we can figure out whatever is bothering you, and do it together, with the supplies. We haven't even entered it yet. I promise you I am not dead." Nico lets out a sigh, and rests his head on my shoulder. I rub his back up and down.

"Ready to do this sunshine?" I ask as I move his chin up, so his eyes meet mine.

"Never will be, but as long as I have you by my side..." Nico grabs my hand and we enter.

It hadn't even been five minutes and I am terrified. How on earth does anybody live in this place? It is purely frightening. I pull Nico close to me, reminding him I am here, because if it's bad for me, I can't imagine how bad it is for Nico.

"Do you have water?" Nico asks. I nod and open up my bag, handing him a water bottle. I look around and see a monster staring at us as Nico peacefully drinks his water.

"Already?" I groan out, and drag Nico far away from the monster, just like I do in video games when I see a monster. I am too tired to deal with this right now.

"How are you doing," I ask Nico, immediately regretting it. Of course he is doing horribly, he is in the place that is quite literally in his nightmares.

Nico shakes his head, "better than last time." He pulls me closer, as we stare at the monster that was behind us, and somehow is now in front of us. Okay, what? This is a very unfair match.

Nico stares at me, then at the monster who has scary eyes, and looks like they are just about ready to kill us.

"Nico, my true love-" What the f...

"Excuse me?" Nico chokes out, pulling me closer.

"Well, yeah. Why do you think I was calling you here? I didn't expect you to bring him," the monster glares in my direction, "but I was hoping you and I could rule Tartarus together."

Gosh, I wish looks could kill, because this monster would be long gone by now. Nico grabs my hand, and shadow travels away.

I open my eyes, after the stomach drop I had now gotten used to. I look over at Nico, who is crying into his hands. I lean to wrap him in my arms, but he jumps back. My heart feels like it snapped in half. Gods, if I wasn't a doctor I would have thought my head did snap in half.

"Will... do you know who that monster is?" I shake my head, wondering how he knew who the monster was.

"Me either," Nico laughs out, trying to make a joke, which is kind of out of character for him, which is how I can tell he is hurting inside.

I walk him to his cabin, and leave him in the bed, all tucked in with all my friends watching over him, to make sure he is okay. I stare at him and kiss his forehead, leaving my note on his bed, whispering "I love you," and waving goodbye to my friends.

I pull out the bell that Apollo gave me, in case I ever needed him, and ring it. He appeared immediately, a ukulele in his hands. "Will?" He takes in the look on my face and sighs.

"I need you to take me to Tartarus."

It had been an hour of exploring Tartarus alone, when I finally found the monster I was looking for.

"Hey, you!" The monster turns around, pure hatred in it's eyes. Welp, I did not think this through.

The monster runs towards me, claws stretched outward as they start scratching me. A voice interrupts, causing both me and the monster turn.

"Leave. My. Boyfriend. Alone. And if you don't, I will leave you alone. In pieces, rotting." Nico has a devilish smile on his face as he says the last part. I hate to tell him that monsters just respawn, so I don't.

"N-nico?" The monster stutters. Nico nods.

"The one and only. Look, I will leave you alone, and not tell my dad about you harassing me constantly in my head, as long as you leave me and my boyfriend alone."

The monster growls, and reaches forward to scratch both of us, and then most likely feast on our skin. Nico grabs it's claw, and snaps it, loud enough that I hear the crack, and the doctor in me cringes, but the boyfriend in me, smiles proudly.

"I told you to back off. This isn't like you, honey," Nico imitates a middle schooler in the last sentence, obviously trying to make the monster annoyed on purpose.

"Fine. I will leave you alone, as long as you can guess my name." Nico rolls his eyes, but I smile happily, loving guessing games. What, I like to outsmart people, sue me. Oh gods, I am starting to sound like Nico.

"Imma go with Solangelo," I smirk. The monster rolls his eyes, but then disapears into thin air. What the Hades? Nico glances over to me, confused.

Where the monster used to be, is now replaced with a figure of Eros. My fists clench in pure rage, and I step in front of Nico.

"Go die," I accidentally say out loud. I am so screwed.

"I am just making sure you too are having a healthy relationship." Eros shrugs, and glares at me.

"Why? You don't believe gay relationships can be healthy? Well guess what you piece of sh-" Nico slaps my elbow, giving me a glance that obviously means 'shut up', so I do.

"What he means to say, is that we are doing just fine, but we do not enjoy being your little toys that you get to traumatize and hate on. If you are gonna trash anyone, let it be yourself." I laugh in my head, too scared to make any noise as the god snaps his fingers, and disappears. Thank gods.

I look towards Nico, and smash my lips to his in victory. When we pull back, my forehead rests against his.

"Why did you follow me here? Did you not read the note saying I didn't want you to hurt?"

"I read it, then ripped it to pieces, then tossed it in the trash. Because I would hurt so much more if you died without me, then going here with you." Nico's lips find mine again, and I smile against them, slipping my hand into his soft black hair, that I am so deeply obsessed with.

"I heard you say 'I love you' earlier. I love you too." I smile, and Nico presses his lips to mine, as the shadows close in around us.

Hey! Sorry for taking such a long break, my mental health really went down recently. I am happy to say, that I really am going to try to post more frequently (probably at random times like 2am) 

And also thank you so much to everyone who reads this, it really helps boost my mood and my confidence!!!